OSN’s Khulud Abu Homos on predicting TV trends

In the next instalment of our Trendsetters summer series, OSN television executive Khulud Abu Homos tells us what makes a TV programme a ratings hit.

Khulud Abu Homos says everything begins with the script. Antonie Robertson / The National

It is a scene often repeated: a weary Khulud Abu Homos in her Dubai Media City office rejecting a ­proposed script for a big-budget drama.
An explanation would then follow for the ego-bruised producers and scriptwriters about the changing landscape of Arabic television.
"As far as I am concerned, it all begins with the script," says Abu Homos.
"If I see a script full of total Arab stereotypes, especially when it comes to the role of women, I will not pick it because enough is enough. I will do this a number of times until people realise that not every Gulf drama has a girl that's a rebel who wants to run away from her family or make it to America. Things have changed in television today."
At the forefront of that development is Abu Homos in her role as OSN's executive vice president for programming and creative ­services.
Working for the broadcaster since its inception in 2009 and before that for nearly a decade with the Arabic satellite channel Orbit (which went on to merge with Showtime to form OSN), Abu Homos plays an influential role in setting television trends in her choice of what's screened on the subscriber channels – from foreign programmes purchased to local content produced. She says her role is not simply to provide content reflecting present society. Abu Homos also has to predict the television trends of the future.
"In a way, it is very much similar to fashion," she says.
"The most successful designers are ones who understand people's taste but, at the same time, create designs and models that are not necessarily in demand at that ­season."
This was illustrated in Abu Homos's decision to acquire a dubbed version of the Turkish period drama Hareem Sultan for OSN in 2011.
The series, loosely based on the reign of the 16th-century ­Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, has become a major hit for the network and a Ramadan viewing staple; the fourth season is ­currently broadcast on OSN Ya Hala HD.
Abu Homos recalls purchasing the drama, despite it going against all industry trends.
At the time, Arab period dramas were on the wane with their penchant to educate rather than entertain. However, Abu Homos looked at the bigger picture for inspiration: with the present political turbulence surrounding the Middle East, she figured a drama recalling the region's politically powerful past could strike a chord with Arab viewers.
"The show had Arabs and Muslims wanting to know about their history," she says. "Although it's dramatised, it had people asking themselves: 'Were we that strong and powerful?' It really tapped into their sense of pride."
The success of Hareem Sultan not only reinvigorated the neglected drama genre, but also illustrated that Arab viewers do have the appetite for 60- to 90-episode series, something that future Gulf dramas – traditionally 30 episodes – capitalised on immediately.
Other programmes that Abu Homos helped usher into the Arab television landscape were the epic dramas The Sopranos and Game of Thrones.
Unlike Hareem Sultan, they were not dubbed but subtitled.
It was a lesson, Abu Homos admits, that came from previous programming misfires. The biggest of these was the defunct channel OSN Shasha, which broadcast leading American ­drama series and films dubbed in Arabic.
The channel stiffed in 2010 after two years because, as Abu Homos and her team eventually realised, people would rather hear their Hollywood heroes without the aid of an Arab voice actor.
"It was an extensive project with us picking the shows and deciding which Arab dialect would suit which," she says. "At the end of it, we realised that viewers didn't appreciate that, particularly on the movie side. Our target audience grew up, for example, knowing the voice of Kevin Costner. Dubbing it, we found, decreased their attraction to the content."
As in all creative endeavours, Abu Homos says such trial and error is vital to eventual success.
"You do initiatives and you research them, and when it doesn't work, you don't shy from saying you made a mistake," she says.
"Then you learn from it and you simply go on and take the next step."
When it comes to future developments, Abu Homos is excited about the potential of Arabic television content. Whereas before the television landscape was narrow with government broadcasters and local channels, subscription and satellite broadcasters have not only exposed Arab viewers to wider content but also raised the bar when it comes to local productions.
"There has been a big leap in quality pan-Arab productions," she says.
"A lot of shows now must have certain benchmarks in terms of presentation and the stories. This is exciting for us as we are working with producers and writers to create the content that people now demand."
•Trendsetters is A&L's eight-part summer series profiling innovative individuals excelling in their respective fields — aiming to shed light on the UAE's promising artistic talents
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